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Contact Info

Education

Skills

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Nathan L. Brouwer Phd

Data scientist specializing in complex ecological data

I am an ecological data scientist and educator with 15 years of experience extracting insights from messy data and communicating the results. I specialize in using generalized-linear mixed models (GLMMs) to analyze data from long-term observational studies. I have also taught myself key aspects of bioinformatics, phylogenetics, machine learning and population genomics.
Note - All blue text is hyperlinked to relevant online materials.

Research & Professional Experience

Assistant Teaching Professor - General & Quantitative Biology

University of Pittsburgh Dept. of Biological Sciences

N/A

present - 2018

Post-doctoral Research Associate - Avian Conservation

National Aviary of Pittsburgh

N/A

2018 - 2015

  • GLMMS: Analyzed decade-long multisite tropical bird population and community datasets.
  • Data cleaning: Cleaned and merged diverse datasets of environmental, remote sensing and organism traits data.
  • R packages: Implemented models of migratory bird populations as reproducible software.
  • Computational ecology: Developed sensitivity and uncertainty analyses methods for for migration models.

Adjunct Professor - Biological Data Analysis

Duquesne Unv. & California Unv. of PA

N/A

2017 - 2016

  • R programming & data science: Taught grad (Duq., Spring 2017) and undergrad data analyses courses (CalU, Fall 2016 and 2017).

Graduate Student

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh

N/A

2015 - 2009

  • Graduate Research Fellow (2009-2010, 2014-2015) and NSF Pre-Doctoral Fellow (2010-2013).
  • GLMMs: Determined appropriate model structures and analyzed data.
  • Data cleaning: Updated, cleaned and managed data for decade-long plant demographic experiment.
  • Field work: Designed and conducted research on plant demography.

Science Writer

Quantum Scientific Publishing

N/A

2008 - 2009

  • Wrote and edited customized biology materials for online charter schools.

PASSIONS

Conservation Biology

African Ecosystems

Forest Ecology

Species Interactions

Open Science & Open data

Science Communication

Graduate Student / NSF Pre-Doctoral Fellow

Dept. of Zoology, Michigan State State University

N/A

2007 - 2008

  • Data Cleaning: Cleaned, organized and analyzed large-scale avian community ecology dataset.

Peace Corps Volunteer - Agroforestry Outreach

National Agricultural Research Institute, The Gambia, West Africa

N/A

2006 - 2004

  • Science communication: Assisted in staff development and conducted outreach on sustainable agriculture.

Infecious Disease Research Scientist

University of Washington Department of Allergy & Infectious Disease

N/A

2004 - 2002

  • Lab work: Conducted experiments on pathogen cell-adhesion proteins.

Publications - Science Education

Ecology for All!

Curated compilation of Open-Access ecology resources and new content.

N/A

2022

Gowarnis, Brouwer et. al.

  • Original content:
  • Chapter 9: Ecology of Populations, section 9.1
  • Chapter 10: Population modeling, sections 10.1, 10.2, and 10.4

Computational Biology for All! vs 0.9

An open access book for bioinformatics and computational biology.

N/A

2021

Brouwer

A Little Book of R for Bioinformatics vs. 2.0

Open-access bioinformatics primer.

N/A

2021

Coghlan (au.) & Brouwer (ed., au)

R Packages (available on GitHub)

redstart

R implementation and replication of Runge & Marra (2005) Modeling Seasonal Interactions in the Population Dynamics of Migratory Birds.

N/A

N/A

Brouwer et al.

combio4all

A repository of functions and data useful for introductory bioinformatics and computational biology.

N/A

N/A

Brouwer & Coghlan

Publications

PUBLICATION TOPICS

Demographic models

Longitudinal GLMMs

Species interactions

Tropical birds

Invasive species

Direct effects of a non-native invader erode native plant fitness in the forest understory

Journal of Ecology 108:189–198

N/A

2019

Bialic-Murphy, Brouwer & Kaliz.

Defining the interaction of the Treponema pallidum adhesin Tp0751 with laminin

Infection & Immunity. 73: 7485-7494.

N/A

2005

Cameron, Brouwer, et al.

Treponema pallidum fibronectin-binding proteins

Journal of Bacteriology. 186:7019-7022.

N/A

2004

Cameron, Brouwer et al.